Important Message about LEARN NC

LEARN NC is evaluating its role in the current online education environment as it relates directly to the mission of UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education (UNC-CH SOE). We plan to look at our ability to facilitate the transmission of the best research coming out of UNC-CH SOE and other campus partners to support classroom teachers across North Carolina. We will begin by evaluating our existing faculty and student involvement with various NC public schools to determine what might be useful to share with you.

Don’t worry! The lesson plans, articles, and textbooks you use and love aren’t going away. They are simply being moved into the new LEARN NC Digital Archive. While we are moving away from a focus on publishing, we know it’s important that educators have access to these kinds of resources. These resources will be preserved on our website for the foreseeable future. That said, we’re directing our resources into our newest efforts, so we won’t be adding to the archive or updating its contents. This means that as the North Carolina Standard Course of Study changes in the future, we won’t be re-aligning resources. Our full-text and tag searches should make it possible for you to find exactly what you need, regardless of standards alignment.

4.3 The Rutherford Expedition

From a brochure published by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History.

Map of Rutherford's expedition, 1776. See sidebar for timeline. The detailed original map is also available. (Map by LEARN NC based on original developed by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. . More about the map)

The Cherokees of western North Carolina in the mid-eighteenth century were part of a mighty nation, with a population of 36,000 controlling more than 140,000 square miles across the Southeast. That population was reduced to 7,000 by the 1770s as the native people felt the full impact of European settlers and ceded their lands through a series of treaties. In 1776, at the outset of the American Revolution, the two cultures clashed.

The conflict came one year after the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals whereby much of present-day Kentucky was opened to white settlement. Demands increased for further land cessions. Fighting to protect their society, Cherokee warriors elected to ignore the overwhelming odds against them and made an alliance with the British, trading partners who had promised to protect the native people from encroaching settlements.

By 1770 settlers, mostly European immigrants or first generation colonists, were moving onto lands previously designated by treaty as Indian. The Cherokees in the North Carolina mountains were primarily farmers who raised livestock, hunted for game, and traded with white men for supplies. In May 1776 village councils discussed going to war against the colonists. The younger warriors moved to unite in defense of the Cherokee boundaries. Though aware that the ultimatum would not be met, Cherokees demanded the withdrawal of settlers from the western settlements within twenty days and made plans for an attack.

White traders learned of the plans and gave the settlements enough warning to permit them time to construct rough stockades. The Cherokee strategy was a three-pronged attack aimed at cutting off communication and isolating frontier settlers. By late July Indians had attacked settlements along the North Carolina frontier, killing over thirty inhabitants. Citizens of the backcountry, many residing on lands which by treaty were Cherokee, were alarmed. The new governments in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia readied armies to challenge the Cherokees.

Griffith Rutherford, brigadier general of the Salisbury District militia, called for volunteers to take part in North Carolina’s expedition against the Cherokee. The result was the massing of a large military force, one key to the Revolution in the Carolinas. With enlistees reporting from several western counties, Rutherford gathered about 2,500 men and enough supplies for forty days afield. Troops assembled initially at fortified houses across the region, among those Cathey’s Fort in McDowell County and Fort McGaughey in present Rutherford County. From Davidson’s Fort (Old Fort) Rutherford and his men set out on September 1, 1776, heading through Swanannoa Gap toward the Cherokee Middle and Valley Towns. The Indians, having gotten word of the expedition, abandoned many of their settlements, tactically withdrawing from the conflict and sparing extensive loss of life.

Rutherford’s men took a number of Cherokees as slaves and burned whatever was left behind. The strategy was one of complete devastation, a “scorched earth” policy. The objective was to stop a potential British ally from entering the war. With the destruction of Cowee, Rutherford and his corps obliterated the commercial and political center. The effect was to reduce the Middle Towns to ashes and the consequence was death and destruction, with the impact extending to all elements of the society, from the youngest to the oldest.

Rutherford was scheduled to join forces with Colonel Andrew Williamson of the South Carolina militia, in command of about 1,800 men, at the Middle Towns in mid-September. Held up for various reasons, including an ambush intended for the North Carolinians, Williamson and his men caught up to Rutherford at the Hiwassee River on September 26. The two armies divided the following day to begin their return trips through the Cherokee Middle Towns. Over the next several days, the militia of the Carolinas obliterated those Indian settlements. Together the two armies were responsible for destroying thirty-six Cherokee villages, leaving no homes, crops, or livestock. Rutherford concluded his campaign in early October. Forced to survive over the winter on wild game and nuts, the remaining Cherokee, through representatives, signed peace treaties the following year.

Route of Rutherford’s Expedition

Crossed the French Broad River at Warrior Ford and followed Hominy Creek westward for nine miles.

September 4

Reached the vicinity of present Canton and forded the Pigeon River at confluence of East and West Forks.

September 5

Moved southwestward to Richland Creek near present Waynesville.

September 8

reached Watauga, village near confluence of Watauga Creek and Little Tennessee River (near present Franklin).

September 10

Village of Nikwasi was destroyed; 600 men sent to seek South Carolina troops under Andrew Williamson.

September 11

Main army moved downstream to Cowee and set up camp.

September 14

Main army moved upstream to Nikwasi to await Williamson’s forces.

September 19

Set up camp at Quanassee, where several Indians were killed, others taken prisoner; horses and cattle confiscated; crops burned.

September 26

North Carolina and South Carolina armies rendezvous at Hiwassee.

September 27

Armies began homeward trek.

Learn more

Rutherford Trace In 1776, during the War for Independence, an expedition led by Griffith Rutherford sought to eliminate the Cherokee as a British ally and to punish them for attacking white settlements. In one month, Rutherford’s men left dozens of Cherokee villages in ruins with hundreds of acres of crops destroyed and livestock killed or seized. Residents of western North Carolina still tell multiple sides of the story.

LEARN NC, a program of the UNC School of Education, finds the most innovative and successful practices in K-12 education and makes them available to the teachers and students of North Carolina - and the world.